“We have a pickle Christmas ornament. This has been part of a tradition in our family since I was a little girl, and now I do it for my daughters. On Christmas Eve, after the kids go to sleep, I hide the ornament on a Christmas tree. We usually have a few trees set up around the house besides the main one in the living room and you can hang the pickle on any Christmas tree in your house. On Christmas morning, the rule is that no one mentions the pickle or prompts the kids to look for it, they just have to remember. Often everyone gets so caught up in opening presents that they completely forget about the pickle until later in the day. Anyways, the first person to find the pickle gets another little Christmas gift. For me though, I just end up getting the same little gifts for all my daughters no matter who finds it, but the one who did find it first gets bragging rights for the rest of the year.”

The informant is originally from the East Coast and has been carrying on this tradition from when her parents did it for her. She doesn’t know where it originally came from, but says she didn’t know of many other people who practiced it. She has also passed on the tradition to her family friends and now they partake it it as well.

This is a tradition that I assume is only followed by various Christians since it involves a Christmas tree ornament. It is a yearly tradition that occurs on Christmas within the home and among friends and/or family.

My family also partakes in this tradition and it has been in my family since I was a little girl. It was always fun on Christmas morning to wake up and see who could find the pickle first. There were many times were Christmas Day would go by and my sisters and I would forget all about it until our mom had to say, “Are you forgetting something?” Then of course we would all scramble over to the Christmas tree. I have to say I have been the pickle finding champion for about 3 years in a row now I think.

Here’s a possible reason for the Christmas Pickle becoming a popular tradition: https://www.whychristmas.com/customs/christmaspickle.shtml